Yesterday was the official opening of Lodge House, which is a quite significant event in the history of Durham School. This marks the third girls' house to open its doors within Durham School, after Pimlico House in 1985 and MacLeod House in 2005. Alongside the boys' houses of School, Caffinites and Poole, this means that the male and female sides of the school are- symbolically at least- equal, a goal that the school has been striving towards since the introduction of girls in 1985.

The question of co-education had arisen prior to the official integration of girls in 1985. Some requests by parents to send their daughters to Durham School occurred in the 1970s, but it was thought that they would be better suited to the Durham High School for Girls, a single-gender institution founded in 1884. Co-education has also been a popular topic of the Debating Society since 1932. Over at Bow School was the unique figure of Kathleen Ida Primrose Gordon Davies (1902-1956), known as 'Primrose', who attended the school as a pupil from 1910 to 1915. She was the daughter of Headmaster George Shafto Legard's half sister, and so was given special allowance to become the first girl to attend Bow School. She would be succeeded by Bow's second girl pupil, Gillian Foster, who joined the school in 1934. She was the daughter of Geoffrey La Trobe Foster, who was Headmaster of Bow from 1934 to 1937. It was not until Durham School Headmaster Michael Lang became headmaster in 1982, however, that the school began taking major steps towards this goal.

September 1985 saw Numbers 1 and 2 Pimlico combined into Pimlico House, the first Boarding School for girls in the history of Durham School. The initial number consisted of 18 members of the Sixth Form, but eventually girls from all ages entered the school. The first Housemistress was Miss Alison Love, a graduate of King's College Cambridge who used her degree in Classics to teach Latin, Classical Civilisation and Ancient History. In honour of the school becoming co-educational, OD Robert Kirby, the son of the original author of the school song, wrote an additional verse on the 12th December 1985:

'Now welcome girls and they'll win fame In years to come and make their name With Aarvold, Weston, Poole and Kerr, Sing Floreat Dunelmia!

In 1990, the number of girls had risen to the point that it became necessary to extend Pimlico into the building next door and refurbish the whole house. Mrs E.L.P. Hewitt, who was Housemistress of Pimlico House 1990-2005, recalled that she "took over a House that had been split across three buildings and could now at least, following a new extension, be one. Angela Pick was Head of House and she won the Chadeyron Music competition. Sport was excelling under the guidance of Mrs Dougall (nee Hamilton in 1990). I still remember the superb performances in 'Charley's Aunt' and 'Iphigenia in Aulis' plus the musical 'The Boys of Syracuse'. How did you fit it all in?"

Katie Geiser, now Katie Fraser, made school history in 1994 by becoming the first Head Girl at Durham School. The event made the papers: The Times stated that she had "broken 580 years of tradition", while the Daily Express stated that she was "breaking the mold" and pictured her standing next to the 1939 Durham School Railway Name Plate (pictured above). She would later return to the school to commemorate 25 years of girls in 2010, and was the guest of honour at yesterday's opening of Lodge House.

When Neil Kern became Headmaster in 1997, the governing body decided that the school should become fully co-educational, allowing for girl pupils from all years and not just the sixth form. This was officially put into action in September 1999, although some junior girls had been admitted earlier. "I am fully in favour of it," said Neil Kern in a January 1998 issue of The Northern Echo. "I feel very keenly that to deny girls the good product and service we offer seems to be moving against the direction society is moving in." September 2001 saw No. 3 Pimlico being incorporated into the house, but by 2005 the presence of 1108 girls in one building meant that a new House was sorely needed. Therefore, twenty years after the introduction of girls in Durham School, MacLeod House was founded, named after the famed Housemaster Norman MacLeod. His daughter, the journalist Janet MacLeod Trotter, was present at the opening.

In our sister sites, the introduction of girls happened shortly after. The introduction of girls into the Chorister School was considered when the Pre-Prep department was created in May 1992, but it was not until Stephen Drew became headmaster in 1994 that the innovation went ahead. Drew was formerly of Rugby School, where he and his wife had opened their second girls' house, Rupert Brooke, in 1988. He was therefore uniquely placed to introduce girls to the Chorister School. During the Chorister School Speech Day in July 1994- his first at the Chorister School- he announced that the policy had been agreed upon, and that girls would be admitted into the school beginning with Pre-Prep in September 1995. He did note, however, that "guinea-pigs" would be welcome, hence the admission of Victoria Lawrence, the daughter of 1978-1994 Headmaster Raymond Lawrence, in September 1994. These initial classes took place on the ground floor of Number 12, The College.

In Bow School, girls were admitted for the first time in September 2006. Initially, only six girls were admitted alongside two nursery age starters, but numbers soon expanded. A classroom was converted into a girls-only common room; headmaster Nick Baird said to The Journal at the time that "it is there if they feel the need to use it, but we hope all the pupils will mix amicably together. There are bound to be some teething problems at first but I am sure we will cope."

The official opening of Lodge House- named after Millie Lodge, headmistress of Bow and a larger-than-life figure in the history of both Bow and Durham- brings this story to the present day, while still remembering the long history that has brought us to this spot. As an indication of the school's history, the crest of Lodge House contains three small primroses in memory of Primrose Davies, the first ever girl pupil of the DCSF back in 1910.